The Americans Who Risked Everything

by Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr.

My father, Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., delivered this oft-requested address locally a number of times, but it had never before appeared in print until it appeared in The Limbaugh Letter. My dad was renowned for his oratory skills and for his original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both. I will always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the ideas and lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the inspirational power of words which you will see evidenced here.

"Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor"

It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home.

Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used today.

The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the horseflies were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stockings was nothing to them." All discussing was punctuated by the slap of hands on necks.

On the wall at the back, facing the president's desk, was a panoply -- consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from Fort Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the place, shouting that they were taking it "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"

Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up an emergency measure about which there was discussion but no dissension. "Resolved: That an application be made to the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania for a supply of flints for the troops at New York."

Then Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more, and debate resumed. Though Jefferson was the best writer of all of them, he had been somewhat verbose. Congress hacked the excess away. They did a good job, as a side-by-side comparison of the rough draft and the final text shows. They cut the phrase "by a self-assumed power." "Climb" was replaced by "must read," then "must" was eliminated, then the whole sentence, and soon the whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as they continued what he later called "their depredations." "Inherent and inalienable rights" came out "certain unalienable rights," and to this day no one knows who suggested the elegant change.

A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the document was put to a vote.

Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: "I am no longer a Virginian, sir, but an American." But today the loud, sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

There were no trumpets blown. No one stood on his chair and cheered. The afternoon was waning and Congress had no thought of delaying the full calendar of routine business on its hands. For several hours they worked on many other problems before adjourning for the day.

Much To Lose

What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the crown? To each of you, the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock and Jefferson are almost as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to them?

I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.

Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56 almost half - 24 - were judges and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, nine were landowners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.

With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were men of education and standing in their communities. They had economic security as few men had in the 18th Century.

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500 pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters so that his Majesty could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward. Ben Franklin wryly noted: "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately."

Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: "With me it will all be over in a minute, but you, you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone."

These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember, a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York Harbor.

They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals or draft card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics yammering for an explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was change they resisted. It was equality with the mother country they desired. It was taxation with representation they sought. They were all conservatives, yet they rebelled.

It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to Philadelphia. Two of them became presidents of the United States. Seven of them became state governors. One died in office as vice president of the United States. Several would go on to be U.S. Senators. One, the richest man in America, in 1828 founded the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. One, a delegate from Philadelphia, was the only real poet, musician and philosopher of the signers. (It was he, Francis Hopkinson not Betsy Ross who designed the United States flag.)

Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had introduced the resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He was prophetic in his concluding remarks: "Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law.

"The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repost.

"If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens."

Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4, it was not until July 8 that two of the states authorized their delegates to sign, and it was not until August 2 that the signers met at Philadelphia to actually put their names to the Declaration.

William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island, was curious to see the signers' faces as they committed this supreme act of personal courage. He saw some men sign quickly, "but in no face was he able to discern real fear." Stephan Hopkins, Ellery's colleague from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared: "My hand trembles, but my heart does not."

"Most Glorious Service"

Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

• Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered -- and his estates in what is now Harlem -- completely destroyed by British Soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.
• William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees without income for seven years. When they came home they found a devastated ruin.
• Philips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York confiscated and his family driven out of their home. Livingstone died in 1778 still working in Congress for the cause.
• Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber, crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from his home and family.
• John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.
• Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of New Jersey, later called Princeton. The British occupied the town of Princeton, and billeted troops in the college. They trampled and burned the finest college library in the country.
• Judge Richard Stockton, another New Jersey delegate signer, had rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. The family found refuge with friends, but a Tory sympathizer betrayed them. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he was deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for Stockton's parole, but his health was ruined. The judge was released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm the British cause. He returned home to find his estate looted and did not live to see the triumph of the Revolution. His family was forced to live off charity.
• Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met Washington's appeals and pleas for money year after year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. In the process he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune and credit almost dry. 
• George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family from their home, but their property was completely destroyed by the British in the Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.
•  Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had several narrow escapes.
• John Martin, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for independence, most of his neighbors and even some of his relatives ostracized him. He was a sensitive and troubled man, and many believed this action killed him. When he died in 1777, his last words to his tormentors were: "Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to have been the most glorious service that I have ever rendered to my country." 
• William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned to the ground.
• Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health broken from privation and exposures while serving as a company commander in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies and on the voyage, he and his young bride were drowned at sea.
• Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the other three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the siege of Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war to St. Augustine, Florida, where they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end of the war, the British in the meantime having completely devastated their large landholdings and estates.
• Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson's palatial home. While American cannonballs were making a shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, "Why do you spare my home?" They replied, "Sir, out of respect to you." Nelson cried, "Give me the cannon!" and fired on his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson's sacrifice was not quite over. He had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson's property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age of 50.

Lives, Fortunes, Honor

Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark.

He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship Jersey, where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through 200 years with his answer: "No."

The 56 signers of the Declaration Of Independence proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history. "And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

My friends, I know you have a copy of the Declaration of Independence somewhere around the house - in an old history book (newer ones may well omit it), an encyclopedia, or one of those artificially aged "parchments" we all got in school years ago. I suggest that each of you take the time this month to read through the text of the Declaration, one of the most noble and beautiful political documents in human history.

There is no more profound sentence than this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness..."

These are far more than mere poetic words. The underlying ideas that infuse every sentence of this treatise have sustained this nation for more than two centuries. They were forged in the crucible of great sacrifice. They are living words that spring from and satisfy the deepest cries for liberty in the human spirit.

"Sacred honor" isn't a phrase we use much these days, but every American life is touched by the bounty of this, the Founders' legacy. It is freedom, tested by blood, and watered with tears.

- Rush Limbaugh III 

 Republished with the permission and courtesy of The Rush Limbaugh Show and Premiere Radio Networks, June 22, 2009 (http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/folder/american_who_risked_everything_1.guest.html)

AMERICA’S CHRISTIAN HISTORY: It’s Distinctives and Importance

Excerpts from an Address By Verna M. Hall, December 1980

There is indeed a stirring in the land—the Lord’s stirring of His people for the preservation and rebuilding of America—the world’s first Christian Republic. It is like unto Haggai 1:14, “And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedeck, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.” Matthew Henry, the colonial clergy’s commentator says of this passage, “When God has work to do, he will either find or make men fit to do it, and stir them up to it.”

Learning and teaching America’s Christian history and education is GOD’S WORK, as we will show you — it is not just an academic course, an interesting study, a personal theory or idea. IT IS THE LORD’S WORK, which is why it is so important for God’s people to KNOW it, and why it is so dangerous for them to continue to ignore it, which they have done now for at least a hundred years. God’s people have indeed been tempting God, and it is an exceedingly dangerous business.

There are God’s people who are concerned about the economic situation of our nation—and well they should be. There are those who are concerned about the moral situation of our nation—and well they should be. There are those who are concerned with the consequences of public education—and well they should be. There are God’s people who are concerned about our governmental situation—and well they should be. There are those who are concerned about the rapidly growing socialist influence around the world, etc., and well they should be. But dangerous as these issue areas are to the well-being of our nation, they are still only the secondary areas of concern—they are but the effect of not dealing with the primary area—which might be summed up as American Christians deliberately forgetting God’s Hand in the establishment and formation of the nation—America.

There is another very large group of God’s people in this nation who are not dealing with this primary area, and it is composed of those who are not at all concerned about the condition of America, or who have very little sense of responsibility for it, who are only interested in one phase of Christianity—that of evangelism. All important as the Great Commission is, it is not to preclude the practical living of the Biblical principles of life and government. It is not to preclude God’s people from remembering God's hand in this nation's history.

WHY THIS IS THE LORD’S WORK

A moment ago I told you that teaching and learning America’s Christian history was important because it is the Lord’s work. All Christian ministries are the Lord’s work—what is distinct, or more important about this activity?

Let me answer by saying the omission of this subject is a sin of omission on the part of God’s people, and has accounted for the failure of our ever-increasing and widening Christian activities to make an impact upon our nation’s life and standards. Likewise did the understanding and constant remembrance of this fact by the founding father generations make a positive impact upon all aspects of life—including government.

To illustrate: Using the business graph technique, consider the amount of money which has been expended on Christian activities during the last fifty years. The amount is exceedingly great—in the billions, and the number of crusades, radio and TV stations, book stores, publication houses, magazines, churches, schools, (audio tapes, video tapes, tracts, bulletins, mailings, etc.) all have an enviable percentage increase for this period. But consider the status of our nation during that same period. All areas have declined which should have shown the effect of this expenditure of funds for Christian activities—home life, morals, business standards and ethics, economics, and government. Not one of these areas is of the quality of fifty years ago. Why has not God honored all of this expenditure for His ministries?

Participating in giving back to American Christians a knowledge of the providence of God in America’s history is the most important evangelical, educational, economic and political activity in which you can be engaged. With this knowledge restored, the wonderful Christian ministries now in operation, can have their desired effect — but without it the gap between Christian activities and their effect upon our social, civil, economic life as a nation will grow wider and wider.

By contrast, consider the same type of business graph for the period in our nation’s history from 1750 to 1800. The expenditure for the outreach of Christian activities was minimal when compared to the last fifty years, but note the effect of Christian principles on all phases of life! It was in this period that God brought forth the world’s first Christian Republic; established the greatest degree of freedom for the individual, home, church and school from the state for the first time in mankind’s history! The Christians must have been doing something right during that period which we are not doing today, and I submit that it is in this one area primarily, that of remembering God’s Hand in our history.

Our nation is not in trouble because of the aggressive activity of socialists, liberals, communists, one worlders, Trilateralists, world bankers, etc. — it is this way because of the failure of American Christians to remember, and value, the Christian History of their nation and the biblical principles of their government... their failure to value what it cost to produce the freedom they take so much for granted.

When one knows something of what is going on governmentally— the abuses of our system, local, state and national— it is very easy to become convinced that the negative forces are the aggressor and the cause of our problems; but the contrary is true—they are but filling the places which should have been occupied by those understanding Biblical principles of government and economics. Those we call the offenders are merely filling the places of leadership in all fields of endeavor, which have been given them by the default of the Christians. This has been going on for over a hundred years; is it any wonder that Biblical principles of our history and government, of economics and education are not in control in our country?

This is a very important point to understand as we enter into the matter of learning what God’s purpose is for America. Otherwise, we will seem to be “not on target”, whereas, if one will admit that our nation’s problems have been caused by American Christians ignoring what we will be studying—then you can see what I said before—this educational activity becomes the most important evangelical, political activity in which you can be engaged. I have dwelt on the point of motive for teaching and learning America’s Christian history, because over the years we have found there are two basic reasons why American Christians do not know this subject, and resist learning it and supporting such activity financially:

1. They are not interested in the subject of history or government, and feel to be studying it is to take away from Bible study (more important Bible doctrines such as salvation, separation, sanctification, etc.) or church activities (Sunday School, Neighborhood Witness, anti-abortion demonstrations, etc.); they feel this subject is secular and therefore should separate from it. 
2. They are interested in government but feel they should spend their time waking people up to the issues because the situation is so serious. They do not see that studying history, even America’s Christian history, is going to do anything about the situation now. It will take too long.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS REGARDING HISTORY

“The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them” (Psalms 78:9-11).

Matthew Henry says of this passage: “Our forgetfulness of God’s works is at the bottom of our disobedience to his laws.” Noah Webster describes “bottom”: “The foundation or ground work of any thing, as of an edifice, or of any system or moral subject; the base, or that which supports any superstructure.”

The American Christians’ forgetting God’s works, God’s actions (God’s Providence) in the forming of America, is at the bottom, or base of our national problems. As we forgot we began to disobey His laws in the field of government—individually and collectively; we allowed and furthered socialism with all the sinful aspects of it we see in our nation today.

If we will accept the responsibility for our nation’s situation, and see that our forgetting God’s works, God’s actions, God’s Providence is the primal cause, then the repenting of this sin of omission, coupled with the willingness to learn what God has done—the events of our history—will begin, with the Lord’s blessing, the restoring and rebuilding of our nation. But the individual American Christian’s activity must be TWOFOLD—it is not enough to repent, be sorry. The proof of the genuineness of the repentance lies in the second step—the willingness to take the time to learn. This is always the Christian’s stumbling block—willingness to change his way of life. Here is where the character struggle lies. Here is where the battle for the survival of America and all she stands for in relation to the Gospel—here, in the character of American Christians, is the battleground for the survival of America.

Now let us look at Hosea. “For Israel hath forgotten his maker, and building palaces” (Hosea 8:14). The phrase “forgotten his Maker” is of importance to us, for it applies to America Christians — they have forgotten their Maker as Americans.

G. Campbell Morgan, commenting on this phrase tells us there is a different meaning to the word “forget”. He says men cannot forget God. “They can deny Him, but in so doing they are still remembering Him. Men do not forget God intellectually…The Hebrew word means quite simply, to MISLAY. Israel hath mislaid his Maker. You know what it is to mislay something. You have not forgotten it, but you have mislaid it.” Rev. Morgan goes on to say: “After Moses had led Israel through all the difficulties — what is the one grave peril he warns them against: Forgetting God—to mislay God—to be oblivious of.” Moses saw Israel down the coming years, and he knew its supreme peril would be that God should be mislaid, regarding the events by which God had brought them out of bondage.

To emphasize this point a bit more. If a piece of paper were to be handed to all the clergy in the country with the instructions to list the providential events in the Old Testament times, by and large they all could do it well. But if they were handed another piece of paper with instructions to list some providential events leading to the establishment of America and her Constitution — only a very few would be able to do so.

If the clergy cannot do it, can we expect (nominal) Christians to do it? But two hundred years ago the clergy could do this, and did it for the edification of the people. They published such (Thanksgiving, Election, and Artillery) sermons so the people could study them… [The end of Miss Hall’s address has been lost. Nonetheless, its theme is well taken. Therefore, we have taken the liberty, with permission of the Foundation for American Christian Education, to provide an appropriate conclusion to this section on the place of the Bible in history from The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America.—ed.]

SERMONS AS POLITICAL PAMPHLETS¹

Modern scholarship has established the fact that the many sermons of our pastors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were dissertations on government—individual self-government. They were not political, in our modern sense of the word, but governmental. For a people Biblically educated it was thought right and proper to seek first God’s direction, learn His truths to determine how men should govern themselves individually and collectively. “The annual ‘Election Sermon’—a perpetual memorial, continued down through the generations from century to century—still bears witness that our fathers ever began their civil year and its responsibilities with an appeal to Heaven, and recognized Christian morality as the only basis of good laws.”² Election day in the colonies was celebrated by long governmental sermons delivered by pastors and printed for circulation throughout the colonies. Many were sent to England.

American Federalism, the practice of self-government at every level of society and government, could not have been learned apart from the study of the Bible. Therefore the history of the Bible and the history of American liberty are inseparable.

There were, in addition to the Sunday and Fast Day sermons, different types, all contributing to the education of the public. Today there is “a famine in the land … of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11)—a famine of instruction in Biblical principles of government. Oh that we might raise up pastors like our Colonial clergy willing to restore the foundations of American Federalism—Christian Self-Government with Union.

ELECTION SERMONS

These were given at the seat of government in answer to the request of either the House of Representatives or the Council upon the election of the Governor’s Council. These sermons were many pages in length and dealt with the subject of character and civil government, showing that both areas must conform to God’s Word.

Consider an excerpt from the Election Sermon of May 26, 1742 by Nathaniel Appleton, Pastor of the First Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, preached before His Excellency William Shirley, Esq. Governour, His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, The Honourable His Majesty’s Council, and House of Representatives. Rev. Appleton’s text was from Psalms 72:1–3, “Give the King thy judgments, O God, and thy Righteousness unto the King’s Son. He shall Judge thy People with Righteousness, and thy Poor with Judgment. The Mountains shall bring Peace to the People, and the little Hills by Righteousness.”

“But then if we consider the moral Law as delivered in Thunders and Lightnings from Mount Sinai, and then written upon Tables of Stone, to denote the Perpetuity of it; and if we consider the particular Precepts under these general Laws, recorded up and down in the sacred Scriptures, we shall find such Precepts of Wisdom, such Rules of Justice, Truth and Goodness laid down, as are a sufficient Directory for us in every Station of Life, whether private or Publick, whether in natural, civil, or sacred Authority. And most certainly, there are no such Maxims of Wisdom, Justice and Goodness to be found anywhere, as in the holy Scriptures. “And now these are the Judgments of God that are given to us as well as unto the Nation of Israel; for they are founded upon the Nature and Relation of Things, and are of universal and perpetual Obligation. They are Precepts & Rules that God in his infinite Wisdom has judged most proper and suitable for such Beings as we, who perfectly knows our Frame, and what Sort of Laws are proper for us to be govern’d by. These are Judgments and Laws that Length of Time, or Changes of Circumstances dont alter the Nature of, nor weaken our Obligation to them. These Laws are founded upon Truth, and Justice and Goodness, and so are Immovable as the Mountains, and Immutable as God himself.

“So that for God to give his Judgments to Kings and Rulers, is to give them a clear Understanding of those Rules of moral Government, that he has laid down in his Word, and that they may learn from the Word of God, what is right and just, true and good, and that they may frame their Notions of these Things, not meerly from their own Reason, nor from the Morals of the Heathen, but from the Oracles of god, which give us the clearest, the fullest and the most refined Notions of moral Vertues, and fix our Obligations to them upon their Proper Basis, viz. The Authority of God. (p. 11–12) …

“I have but one Law-Book that I shall pretend to recommend to your careful perusal, and that is the Holy Bible, which contains the Laws, Statutes, and Judgments, the Reports and Records of the King of Heaven: There you will find that God has given us, as we are told, right Judgments, and true laws, good Statutes & Commandments. (Neh. 9:13) O then, Let all your private Counsel, and all your publick Pleas, be such as agree with these Divine statutes.” (p. 54) …

“Before I shut up, I must entreat you to spare me a Word to the body of the people very briefly. And here let me say, That as the Judgments, and the Righteousness of God are necessary to make good Rulers and good Ministers, so are they to make a good People. The same Rules that will teach, and the same Righteousness and Grace that will dispose and enable Rulers to govern aright, are as necessary to direct and dispose you to submit to the Government over you. And the same Laws that impower some to rule, demand Subjection and Obedience from you.…

“And here I would observe, that we have always set up for a religious People, and have gloried in it. I pray God that we may by all our Carriages make it more and more evident that this Character does belong unto us. And that the great Awakenings that have been of late, and are still among People, may issue in such a sober, humble, obedient, regular Carriage, as may give us more and more Occasions for Thanksgivings to God upon this Account. And let me tell you, that Subjection to Authority is such a very considerable Article in Christianity, that there is no pretending to be Christians, much less reformed Christians without it.” (p. 58)

Prologue by the editors:
This stirring sermon excerpt exemplifies how Americans routinely applied the Scriptures to ordinary life, as a means to make the Great Commission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ successful upon every possible societal foundation, so that whether they ate or drank, or whatever they did, early American Christians did all they did for the glory of God. No areas of life were neutral, not even table manners. Contemporary Americans are horribly ignorant of this great heritage.

Since the early 1980s, when both Jerry Nordskog and Ron Kirk became acquainted with Verna Hall, Rosalie Slater, and this great Christian legacy, this ignorance seems to have grown exponentially. The need for the revival of the knowledge of God’s Providence in Christian history ought to be clear to those with even a small inkling of what the Gospel requires in stewardship over foundation institutions such as the home, church, education, and civil liberty and justice. At this very moment—as these words are being written—the House of Representatives has passed the onerous, unconstitutional, and historically watershed bill known as Cap and Trade. If Christians do not now respond to the call to get Biblical wisdom as to the foundations of civilization may very well be destroyed, and the passage often cited by the Foundation for American Christian Education may become our common lament: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3).

Let us not further squander nearly four hundred years of American heritage, with the prospect of perhaps another century to pass before we might recover our once common liberty. Rather, at this time when we ordinarily celebrate America’s Christian liberty in the form of our Declaration of Independence and of the successful defense of the ancient rights of Englishmen through the following long War of Independence, may we solemnly reflect on this great heritage, and seek each one our rightful contribution to its recovery, for the sake of the Gospel and the glory of our God.

Permission to republish by Foundation for American Christian Education (http://face.net/).

1. Hall, Verna M., Slater, Rosalie J.: The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America. San Francisco : Foundation for American Christian Education, 1983, pp. 22-24 
2.  Hall, Verna M., The Christian History of the American Revolution. San Francisco : Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976, p. 191.

Government Schools, Parents & Kids: How Will We Answer the Lord, and What Will He Say?

By Eugene Clingman 

How will we answer the Lord, and what will he say?
About 85% of children from Christian homes attend government schools. In so-called public schools Christian children (all children) are continually taught (implicitly or explicitly) that there is no Creator God, or that if there is a Creator out there somewhere, it is not worth the time or energy to learn anything about Him. The records show that more than 80% of Christian children who attend the government school system come out of that system thinking like humanists, essentially paganized, and by adulthood are no longer professing Christians.

I will ask a very basic question. What worldview are Christian parents required by God to raise their children in? This is not a moralistic question springing from my own prejudice. The question is asked in light of Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (read and carefully consider this passage). This passage is crystal clear that God requires the children of believers to be immersed in the thought patterns of the faith, day and night. On the contrary, 85% of Christian parents daily place their children under an ungodly system to be propagandized (30 hours a week) with the fairytale of the humanistic evolutionary worldview. That worldview says the universe and everything in it formed by accident through random processes during whatever billion number of years they currently claim it took (this number changes periodically)! This fairytale, humanistic, naturalistic worldview is taught not only in the science classroom, it is implicit in nearly all the curricula. Consider the following possible conversation between God and a Christian parent.

Click here for another article by Eugene Clingman on this subject Concerning the Education of Christian Children: Government Schools are Succeeding! But are We?

God: “Did you bring your children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord?”

With a feeling of accomplishment that parent might answer,

Parent: “Yes Lord, they went to Sunday school and attended church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, a total of 6 hours a week!” I imagine the conversation might continue something like this –

God: “How much time were they taught by the pagan (those who “refused to receive Christianity”; Webster 1828), unbelieving government school system?”

Parent: “Well Lord, Monday through Friday it was 6 or 7 hours each day. And sometimes on Saturday they attended special government school events, games, or activities. Let’s see, that is a total of not less than 30 hours a week.”

God: “But I asked you to train your children “diligently” in Christian living and worldview from the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed, when you sit in your house, and when you travel (Deuteronomy 6; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Proverbs 13:20; 1 Corinthians 15:33). By the way, when your children traveled on the school bus, were they shown a godly example and were they learning the Christian worldview or were they learning the ways of the pagans? You do remember that I told you not to learn the ways of the unbelievers don’t you? (Deut. 18:9; Jer. 10:2) From morning to sunset, your children are to be taught to love God with all their hearts. They should be instructed in Christian truth and true knowledge of the universe I created (science, history, the arts, socialization, even mathematics; 2 Tim. 3:15). They can only learn true knowledge if I and my Son Jesus Christ are at the center of that knowledge (Col. 2:3; Heb. 1:3). You do realize that science is not real science unless I, the Creator of all things, am placed at the center and as the foundation, don’t you? You do realize that history is not real history unless it is studied with this principle in mind – I, God, am sovereign over history; nations rise and fall based on how they respond to me, and my Son Jesus Christ (Psalm 2). Unless history is taught within the context of the fact that I have an overall plan for history, and that not even a bird falls to the ground apart from me, it is not true history, but only many facts disjointed from reality (Matthew 10:29). Were your children taught history with me, the Lord over history in the very forefront of the instruction they received? And socialization, I hear there is a lot of concern about socialization these days – were they taught how to conduct themselves as Christians during those 30 hours a week? Were they being taught and also given living examples of how to live in purity? (1 Tim. 4:12) Or were they taught the pluralistic view that purity is ok but is only one of many possible options? Did your children become well informed about the ways of the unbelievers or were they “babes” when it comes to evil? (1 Cor. 14:20) Yes, socialization is important to my Kingdom. Were the boys and young men taught and admonished to look with purity upon the girls and young ladies, to treat them respectively as sisters? (I Tim. 5:2) Were the girls encouraged to dress in a modest manner so as not to encourage lust in the young men? You know young men naturally struggle with such challenges and don’t need any help from scantily dressed girls. Yes, socialization is important. Were they socialized in godliness, or did they learn to pattern themselves after the pagans (those who “refused to receive Christianity”)?

 Parent: “Yes, Lord, our kids do look and act a bit like the average public school kid. We knew there might be some risks, but we remembered your Great Commission, and wanted our kids to witness to their friends!”

God: “Did I give the Great Commission to children? Don’t you realize there is a great battle going on in the world?”

 Parent: “Yes Lord, we sent our little soldiers out to the battle every weekday. After all, you don’t want us to keep them sheltered do you?”

God: “I wanted your children to go to war, but I wanted them to be trained and matured for warfare first. Let’s think together a moment. Would you place guns in the hands of your grade school sons and daughters and send them to the front lines in a war against grown men? I know you would not. But isn’t that what you have done with my children whom you sent into the pagan (those who “refused to receive Christianity”) government school? Isn’t it apparent that the government schools are a major weapon in the war against me and my kingdom? You sent them right into the enemy’s training camp, and statistically the larger percentage of Christian kids who go to the government school training camps end up denying their Christian faith. You would not send children to the front lines in a war, but you sent them into the middle of a more crucial war. In this war, the enemy has your child in the sights of his gun. Let’s think further, is a child able to stand against adult teachers with the experience of years, the training of college, accumulated knowledge, and a place of credibility and authority that often rivals or exceeds the parent’s in the eyes of the child? Does a child have the ability to discern when a false premise is made and false conclusions drawn? Does the child have the ability to counter philosophic arguments that rule me, God, out of my universe (history, science, etc.)? Teachers of my children whom you have on loan from me, should train my children to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ, my Son (2 Corinthians 10:5). I want your children to be trained so they eventually can counter false ideas. But if most of what is in their heads denies or ignores me, they are not being trained for me and my Kingdom, but for their enemy and mine!”

Parent: “But Lord, our school was different! We had nine Christian teachers, and our principle was Christian too!”

God: “And did those 9 Christian teachers and the Christian principle place Christ at the center of all they taught? Or did their teaching suggest that my Christ and his kingdom are one of many possibilities? Did they essentially follow the government imposed curriculum that either ignores my existence or actively denies me? I know that in America teachers are required by law, and by the contract they sign, not to teach about me, my Christ, and my kingdom. Did they obey those laws and fulfill the covenant contract they signed?”


Parent: “But Lord, I had to work and so I needed the Federal babysitter, or I mean government school! I had no options!”

For a free full color tract that includes this conversation between God and a Christian parent, click here